


don’t want you like a best friend

by cybergore



Category: Hooky (Webcomic)
Genre: Best Friends, But not how you think, Crying, F/M, Finale spoilers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Hotels, Nico blushes a lot, Pining, Post-Canon, Showers, There’s Only One Bed!, b/c miriam said so, nico swears a scrunchie, the ending they deserve, this is so soft bruh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:55:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23058871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cybergore/pseuds/cybergore
Summary: It’s intoxicating, letting the words that he’s swallowed down time and time again tumble out into the open air.-Remember, in the Q&A chapter, when the innkeeper told Dani & Nico they’d have to share the bed? Yeah.
Relationships: Dani Wytte/Nico (Hooky)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 84





	don’t want you like a best friend

**Author's Note:**

> i love hooky more than life itself & seeing it end? that mess broke my heart! anyway, here’s some danico soft enough you could sleep on it.
> 
> THE song for this (& the one i listened to on repeat while writing it) is dress by taylor swift.

“I’m so sorry, kids,” the inn’s middle-aged receptionist says, placing her hands flat on the front desk’s surface. There’s sympathy in her expression, but there’s also… tiredness. She’s clearly exhausted, and Nico can relate.

“There’s only one room left at the inn,” she explains, dangling a dull brass room key between her magenta-polished index finger and thumb.

“Oh—” Dani starts to say, but the burnt out innkeeper interrupts again.

“And there’s only one bed, so you’ll have to share it,” she continues in a monotone.  _ In a monotone. _ As if she hasn’t just delivered the best news Nico has ever heard in his entire life. “Is that a problem for you?”

It’s  _ definitely _ not a problem for Nico, who has to physically restrain himself from turning on his heel and raptor-screeching in victory.

But he turns to Dani, concerned. He’s elated, yes, but he doesn’t want to push her into anything she’s not comfortable with.

“Um,” Dani says, blush coloring her pale cheeks. Nico’s pretty sure that if he lifted his hand to press against his own face, it’d be boiling hot, too. “No, that’s fine.”

Nico feels like he’s about to faint, both from how knackered he is, and the fact that,  _ holy smokes, I’m going to share a bed with Dani Wytte. _

“Alright,” the innkeeper shrugs, clearly uninterested with Dani and Nico, and whatever they choose to do on their own time. “Here’s the key.”

She tells Dani the price for a single night’s stay while Nico collects the few bags they have between the both of them. After they pass over the correct fee, Nico gets handed the brass key, and pointed in the direction of the last free room.

With his bones feeling molten and radioactive, and feeling like his heart is pumping out pop-rocks rather than blood, Nico follows Dani in silence towards the room, and waits patiently as she unlocks the door.

The room is okay, not the nicest they’ve been in, but also not the worst. It’s got a strange chartreuse carpet, as well as a nice, squishy-looking chair in the corner. And yes, the single bed—which is outfitted in a damask-print bed set that matches the carpet.

As soon as they’re inside with their belongings, Dani turns to Nico and places her hands on her hips. “I’m calling the shower,” she announces.

And if Nico’s face wasn’t already the color of Dani’s hat, he’s sure that it is now. Dimly, Nico registers his brain formulating an interesting thought: if all the blood in his body has risen to Nico’s face, how in the world is he still functioning as a human being?

A simple answer:  _ he isn’t. _

Through all this inner turmoil, however, Nico somehow manages the feat of a coherent response. “Um, okay,” he chokes out.

Dani, who doesn’t seem to register Nico’s strife, continues. “I swear, a day of flying has left me all dirty and gross. I probably smell terrible, and there’s no way I’m forcing you to share a bed with me all stinky.”

Nico doesn’t reply that he would feel honored to share a bed with Dani, all stinky. As always, Nico is over the moon to be allowed even the slightest proximity to Dani, who constantly smells like flowers and vanilla.

Thankfully, though, he doesn’t do that. What he  _ does _ is find his head, as well as the strength to offer a few more replies before Dani finds a pair of clothes and a towel and disappears into the bathroom to shower.

Nico collapses into the squishy, faded armchair and determinedly  _ does not _ think about the fact that Dani Wytte is taking a shower just a few feet and a closed door away from him.

He hums an old campfire song that he and his friends liked to sing when they were younger, mostly to drown out the sound of Dani’s shower coming from the bathroom. It doesn’t really work, though, since Nico hears it when the shower cuts off.

About a minute later, Dani emerges with her hair hanging limply down her shoulders, wearing a pink pajama shirt and blue pajama pants decorated with little pink stars interspersed along the fabric. She notices Nico staring at the pants and grins.

“Do you like them? Monica got them for me,” she says, flopping onto the bed. Nico’s face seems to, if it’s even possible, heat further. Dani doesn’t pick up on it, however, as she continues discussing Monica’s plan to expand her wardrobe.

“Yeah, she keeps buying me pants and dresses and skirts and shirts and stuff like that,” Dani shrugs, lifting a hand to finger-comb through her dark hair. “I guess she wants me to have more choices than I used to. Which makes sense, after all. I like variety. I don’t get how I could’ve worn the same black dress for years in a row?”

Nico remembers that dress; the one she wore during her curse, possession... whatever it was. It was a nice dress, and rather… form-fitting, too. However, the circumstances of Dani wearing it made it impossible for Nico to enjoy. He likes the way she dresses now more, anyway, not that that matters. The rainbow of colors suit her and her bright personality, even though she will tend to revert back to her and Dorian’s classic black and white look sometimes.

“Hello, Nico?” Dani asks.

“Hm, what?” Nico asks, looking up from where he was staring… at Dani’s torso. Great.

“I asked if you wanted to shower,” Dani asks innocently. Nico almost chokes again, before he gets that she means for him to shower  _ alone, _ for the  _ sole _ purpose of getting the day’s grime off.

“Oh,” he says, shakily. “Yeah, I will.”

Otherwise,  _ he’ll _ be the stinky one. Nico can’t imagine something worse than sharing a bed with Dani (finally!) and being gross and sweaty for the occasion. She’d be repulsed by him, and Nico can’t even comprehend how horrific that would be.

Dani rolls her eyes at him. “Go ahead, then. I’m tired, so let’s go to bed soon.”

_ Let’s go to bed soon. _ That statement is enough to replenish the dusting of blush along Nico’s cheeks, so he turns on his heel and grabs his own towel and pajamas and retreats into the bathroom before Dani can make him any more flustered than he already is.

Once Nico is inside, he locks the door soundly and starts up the shower. Folding his soiled clothes on a pile alongside the sink, he steps under the spray and sighs in contentment at the satisfying heat of the water.

Soon enough, Nico has washed his hair and cleaned up, leaving him to stand underneath the water, aimlessly enjoying the comfortable pressure of the spray at his back.

He realizes that he’s probably avoiding leaving the shower because he doesn’t want to face Dani. Which is ridiculous, right? Sharing a bed with Dani is… pretty much Nico’s dream, isn’t it?

He’s loved her for forever. Really forever. And what was it that she’d said in Nico’s fortune telling stall, weeks ago?  _ “I want you by my side, Nico.” _ Doesn’t that mean she likes him back?

All this evidence points to one thing: Nico has no reason to be all jittery and nervous, like he is right now. There’s no point in fretting about it, because Dani already  _ knows _ Nico loves her. And she feels the same, right? At least, she feels something akin to what Nico does.

Yet Nico’s skin still feels like its shrunk, lacking the capacity to hold the enormous ball of restless energy Nico’s become in his anxiety.

Nico supposes that, most likely, the nerves are  _ because _ of how long he’s loved Dani. He’s built her up in his head as perfection, something that had previously been unattainable, both reassuringly and maddeningly so.

The thought that he could never have Dani made him ache and hurt and tear, but it also calmed him. That way, he’d never have to learn that maybe they weren’t meant to be, that Dani and Nico, outside the dreamspace of Nico’s head, are mundane, and not perfect beings.

But Nico knows. He knows now that, even though she isn’t perfect, Dani is something else. She’s  _ Dani, _ something that means so much more to him than  _ perfect. _ He knows now that his heart wouldn’t break if he endured a romance that was imperfect. It would, though, if the person he was with wasn’t  _ her. _

Finally, Nico forces himself to turn off the calming heat of the shower. He wouldn’t want to weird Dani out by staying in too long.

After toweling off, Nico slips on his pajamas—a dark green sweatshirt and a pair of gray sweatpants. He fastens his long hair with a green scrunchie, rather than his regular hair-tie.

When he emerges, Dani takes one look at him, and bursts out laughing.

_ “Shhh,” _ Nico reprimands, red flooding his face for the millionth time. “We have neighbors! And why are you laughing?”

“Sorry,” Dani gasps, doing a bad job of muffling her laughter from where she sits on the bed. Her hair has dried somewhat, and now it sits in a messy bun atop her head. “It’s just—your  _ scrunchie.” _

“What?” Nico asks, embarrassed. “It’s just a scrunchie. It doesn’t pull my hair as much as a regular hair tie.”

At that, Dani collapses back into giggles. The fact that she’s laughing, without malice as Nico knows, eases his nerves slightly. This is still Dani, still the funny, bright Dani he’s known since forever.

He crosses the room to sit on the bed next to her. Slowly, her laughter tapers off, and the two of them are looking at each other in silence. Dani’s face is open, a faint smile still stretching across her beautiful features. Nico’s struck, for the millionth time, by how gorgeous she is. She’s always been cute, always pretty, but after her curse was broken… Nico can’t stop noticing how  _ beautiful _ she’s become.

“Hi,” he says softly.

“Hi,” she replies, her smile widening. In the low light of the inn’s few lamps, Dani’s dark eyes dance and twinkle.

“You know, Dani,” Nico starts, steeling himself, “What I was trying to tell you a few weeks back—”

_ “Shhh,” _ Dani whispers, placing a finger to Nico’s lips and echoing his warnings from before. Nico feels himself flush again. “I know.”

“You know?” Nico tries to ask. With Dani’s fingers over his mouth, though, it comes out more like,  _ “Mew muff?” _ Dani laughs softly at that, too.

“I know,” she says. “I remember, from when I was… well, when I was cursed. I remember you saying you’d… you’d always be by my side, no matter what.”

Nico nods wordlessly because, a, he did say that, and b, Dani’s still covering his mouth.

“And I know I brushed you off,” Dani continues, lowering her eyes guiltily. Which makes no sense, Nico thinks. Dani has  _ nothing _ to feel guilty for. “Because I wasn’t ready to acknowledge it. But I am, now.”

_ I am, now. _ What does that mean? Does that mean… Nico’s feeling sort of faint at this point, after all the blood that’s rushed to his head today.

“I’m ready to tell you,” Dani says slowly, meeting Nico’s eyes again with her soft, bottomless ones. “That I feel the same way.”

Nico feels his eyes start to prickle, and all he can think is,  _ really? Right now? _

“I’m ready to tell you,” Dani says, taking a deep breath, “That I love you, Nico. You’ve always been by my side, and I’ll always be by yours.”

Dani looks away.

_ “Mmmph,” _ Nico says, with feeling, bringing Dani’s gaze back to him. She laughs breathlessly when she realizes that his lack of response comes from her covering his mouth, and she immediately removes her fingers with a giggled, “sorry”, allowing Nico to heave a tiny sigh of relief.

“Dani,” he whispers, looking back into her eyes, which are  _ also _ brimming with sparkly tears. “I love you, too. You’re my best friend. You’re… more than my best friend, obviously. I love you, too,” he babbles, sure that he sounds ridiculous.

Thankfully, Dani doesn’t seem to share that opinion, as she sniffles a little, before— _ holy shit _ —leaning forward and kissing him.

Yes.  _ Kissing him. _

Nico melts into it, obviously, because what else would he do? He instinctively reaches up to touch Dani’s cheek and hold her chin, and she pushes closer. And they’re kissing.

_ They’re kissing. _

It doesn’t feel like Nico expected it to, to be honest. He’s never kissed anyone before, and from what Monica and Dorian and Mark have told him (and what he’s garnered from stealing Monica’s romantic books), first kisses are supposed to feel like fireworks. Like a big bang of energy and magic exploding between you and your person.

But this, this kiss, doesn’t feel that way. It feels soft and warm and clean and… watery, because they’re both tearing up and Nico’s hair is still wet,  _ but. _ But it also feels like everything, everything in Nico’s world that was out of place or off-center before is clicking into place.

All because Daniela Wytte has her hand on his knee and her lips and his lips, and is pulling back and smiling brightly at him despite the tears dribbling down her cheeks, and is leaning forward to hug him deeply in a tight hug that he one hundred-percent reciprocates.

Finally, Dani pulls back and rubs her eyes, and Nico yawns, and they both smile again, though now they are mirrored, worn-out grins. “Let’s go to bed,” Nico suggests, to which Dani nods.

“Good night, Nico,” she whispers, sliding into her sheets. Nico follows close behind, and turns on his side, so he’s facing her.

Dani clicks off her lamp, and then looks back at Nico. “I love you,” she mouths.

“I love you, too,” he whispers back, his blood still buzzing despite the exhaustion. It’s intoxicating, letting the words that he’s swallowed down time and time again tumble out into the open air.

He clicks his lamp off, and settles back into the pillows. Somehow, right before they drift off, Nico’s limp hand finds Dani’s warm one in between them, and they float into unconsciousness that way.

Fingers intertwined.

By each other’s sides, as they were always meant to be.

**Author's Note:**

> anyway.
> 
> my tumblr is @/minyrds :)).


End file.
